Digimon
Digimon are creatures that reside within the parallel universe called the "Digital World." The word "Digimon" is invariable in the plural, and stands for "Digital Monster". There are many different species of Digimon, as well as unconfirmed and new generations of Digimon yet to be revealed. The rate of new Digimon species continuously increase as the Digital World expands each year. 'Characteristics' Digimon hatch from eggs called Digi-Eggs. They age via a process called "Digivolution" which changes their appearance and increases their physical powers. Some Digimon act feral, like wild animals. Most, however, possess human intelligence, speech, and personality traits. It was mentioned that, if a Chosen Digimon were to be seperated from their partner, then they would start to become weaker. An example of this is Sharpay Frost's partner, Poromon. When Sharpay was away in Kyoto, Poromon began to feel weaker each day. The Digimon life cycle: they age in a similar fashion to real living organisms, but do not die under normal circumstances because they are made of reconfigurable data. Old Digimon and Digimon who receive fatal wounds dissolve into infinitesimal bits of data. The data then recomposes itself as a Digi-Egg and the Digimon goes through its life cycle again. Digimon who are reincarnated in this way will sometimes retain some or all their memories of their previous lifespan. However, if a Digimon's data is "downloaded" as demonstrated in Digimon Tamers, in which all the data of a dying Digimon is absorbed by another, or if the data is completely deleted or destroyed, they will permanently die. In special cases, some Digimon do not get reincarnated despite their data still existing. A famous example is the Wizardmon, who's data remained in the Real World following his death, and thus was not reconfigured. Digivolution Digivolution is the process by which a Digimon "ages" and grows up into larger and more powerful forms. Although the word "Digivolution" is short for "Digital Evolution", Digivolution is in fact more similar to metamorphosis in that Digivolution changes a Digimon from one form to another (which can sometimes be very different in appearance) very quickly. Digivolving for Digimon is similar to aging for humans — it is generally a one-way journey whereby a Digimon will grow into a new form as they age and gain battle experience and data. However, moving from one form to another becomes progressively more difficult. Therefore, very few Digimon will ever naturally Digivolve into their final most powerful forms. However, for the Chosen Digimon who are partnered with DigiDestined humans, Digivolution becomes far more flexible. Digimon who form bonds with a human are able to digivolve more easily, generally through the use of a Digivice owned by the human. In such cases, the Digimon is channeled large amounts of energy and is therefore able to instantaneously digivolve to a higher level. However, these Digimon will generally de-digivolve back into a lower form after a fight. Digimon partnered to humans are also commonly able to use special forms of Digivolution not naturally available, giving these Digimon many different forms. These include Armor Digivolution, and Biomerge Digivolution (fusing with their human partners). During Digivolution, a Digimon's appearance changes, and many of its other classifications (such as attribute and family) also sometimes do. The Digimon's fighting ability increases significantly, and the resulting Digimon is considered to be of a different species. However, Digimon species which are connected through Digivolution are generally similar in appearance. For example, Agumon is a small dinosaur-like Digimon; his Digivolved form is Greymon, a much larger fully-grown dinosaur; and then MetalGreymon, a large armored and winged dinosaur. However, Digimon can sometimes Digivolve into forms that appear very different. Salamon is a dog-like Digimon, but Digivolves into Gatomon, a cat-like Digimon. Gatomon is able to further Digivolve into Angewomon, a bipedal winged angel. Gender The gender of Digimon is a complicated topic. Renamon has stated that "Digimon aren't divided into gender." This, however, is not congruent with the portrayal of the creatures in the series. Many Digimon, especially those of humanoid design, appear specifically male or female, and most Digimon speak with gendered voices. Moreover, characters regularly referred to Digimon as either "he" and "she" — a specific example of this is Jijimon and Babamon, who are called a married couple. Konaka points this out, when he says that "...gender seems fairly easy to identify in Digimon." Some Digimon even have names composed of gender-specific nouns (for example, Angewomon and LadyDevimon). Name The name of a Digimon species is usually based on its form, and may be a pun. For example, Hyokomon's name and design are derived from the Japanese onomatopoeia for unsteady steps (「ひょこひょこ」, "Hyokohyoko"), as well as the Chick (雛, Hiyoko). The species's name always ends in "-mon". Digimon are generally not given individual names, and are instead simply referred to by the name of their species. So the word "Agumon" actually refers to a Digimon species, and not a single individual Digimon. The Agumon that is partnered with Josh Summers and the Agumon that is partnered with John Worthington share the same name because they are of the same species. However, they are not the same individual, and are different in appearance and voice. When a Digimon Digivolves and assumes a new form, its name changes to match the species of its new form. However, it is still the same individual, despite having a different name. 'Classification' Digimon species are given many different classifications. Level Digimon species are classified by their "digivolution level". Digimon generally hatch out of Digi-Eggs as Fresh level Digimon, the lowest and weakest level, roughly equivalent to human infants. Most Digimon of this level are small and do not have well-defined body parts. Eventually Fresh Digimon digivolve to the In-Training level, a slightly bigger and more complex form that generally still has undefined body parts. In the Digi-World, most digimon encountered are of the rookie or champion level, while ultimate and mega-level digimon are rarer. Digimon of one Digivolution level are generally far stronger than Digimon of the previous level. There are exceptions where a Digimon has been able to defeat an opponent of a higher level. There are also cases, such as with Lucemon and Arkadimon, where a Digimon is far more powerful than what its actual Digivolution level would lead one to think. Attributes All Digimon species are classified into four attributes — Data, Vaccine, Virus and Variable. Most Digimon fall into the first three categories, the fourth "Variable" category is exclusive to Hybrid Digimon. There is also one other group "Unknown", for Digimon who either do not have an attribute, or are classifed as being "Unidentified". These attributes have a Rock, Paper, Scissors arrangement where Virus is generally advantaged against Data, Data is advantaged against Vaccine and Vaccine is advantaged against Virus. However, these attributes don't play a very important role in Digimon fights. A Digimon can generally defeat an opponent regardless of attribute if it is stronger than the opponent in Digivolution level and experience. Most evil Digimon are of the Virus attribute (although not all Virus Digimon are evil; Wormmon and Guilmon are the most notable exceptions), and Vaccine Digimon are generally considered to be "good". Different attribute versions of a Digimon are sometimes of different colors. An example of this is where the standard MetalGreymon has orange skin and red hair, but his Virus form has blue skin and darker hair. Family Type As another form of classification, all Digimon species are given a "type". This generally describes the physical appearance of the Digimon. So for example, Agumon is a "Reptile type" Digimon, whereas Angemon is an "Angel type" Digimon. Some types, such as "Insect type", include dozens of Digimon, whilst others, such as "Ancient Insect type" are unique and belong to only a single Digimon (in this case it's AncientBeetlemon.) A Digimon species is generally classified into only one "type". Like the "Family" classification, "Type" is considered to be a fairly trivial and unimportant classification. 'Trivia' Category:Species